The Silver Lie That Shanghaied Me

The Night came quicker than expected; Ganki lays his back upwards against a broken pillar, which was once thought to be part of a building.  He judges his surrounding even more, him being in the center of the ruins. He expected a village to be here, but then again, he knew not where he was. All that remained here was ash, and an abandoned failed structure. The more he scanned the area, the more he thought of the cloud village. He sighs for a bit, depressed once more as he tried to forget about the past. For now, Ganki’s goal was to live in the now. He might as well even forget all ties he had with the village, not like he was going back any time soon.

Returning he gaze back to his two hands, each holding a stone. Ganki strikes the two together, over the plies of leaves surrounded by decent sized rocks he gathered on his way over here. What he tried to do was to get a fire going, but with all this never ending wind blowing, it seemed impossible. Every spark he managed to get never seemed to last, even if it took him nearly over 100 strikes to get a spark. Nearly giving up, he just realized what a fool he was. Looking over both his shoulders, using all his senses, he drops the single rock in his right hand, and creates a short burst Chidori, angling it towards the pile of leaves so that the tip of the jutsu can ignite the leaves. Finally, Fire. The wind couldn’t blow this flame out even if it tried. Thought, not wanting to test his luck, he decided to “feed” the fire every once in a while, if he felt the need to do so.

What now, he wondered? Unintentionally thinking back about his father, thanking him for forcing him to join the shinobi academy, for without the skills he learned he would most likely be dead, he senses something north of his direction. Ganki rose up on his feet, branding the stone behind him with his FTG seal as he got up. He does so just in case he needed to return back to his belongings, though his most important stuff was on his person at all times. Sticking to the shadows, with stealth, makes his way towards the chakra signature, the wall’s shadow keeping him hidden, not to mention his chakra suppression skill at work as well. Never walking into a unfamiliar zone with your chakra screaming your location.

Reaching near the location where he sensed the unfamiliar chakra, he halts his step upon hearing coughs and groans. Peering over a stone, which Ganki was behind, he views an elder man staggering, injured at best guess. Ganki wondered what he should do, the elder was way too close to his camp, and must have seen the smoke from the fire he set, and he was within 50 meters of the fire. However, among all that stood out, was the various tattoos the elder man was branded with. Viewing him, he was shirtless; his lower upper half was wrapped in white cloth bands, and wore battle armor like skirt, similar to what samurai wore. Ganki catches the blue armor shin plates, waist guards, and the sword too. He was armed; the trail of blood was also something to take note too. What was he to do? Only one thing he can do, survival of the fittest. Who knew what items and various trinkets the elder had on him? Ganki draws a single kunai, from his pouch he wore, branding it with a seal as well. He then leaps from the shadows, with the kunai held in front of him, dashing towards the elder from behind. The elder catches on "At last!", and swings his mighty sword, but his injury cost him some of his speed, the two clash, with Ganki nearly pushing the stranger’s blade against his neck. Ganki’s face tense with determination, to take down the man. However, he backs off, distancing himself 6 feet away from the man. “Just turn around old man, there is nothing here of value”, Ganki said. The elder man, hunched over slightly, straightens his posture. “Actually, there is, I am here for you. You see, we have run into each other, not to longer ago, in fact, yesterday to be accurate. Because of your interference with the product I was transporting out of Sunagakure, I was stopped, and had my carriage searched. You want to know what they found?”, the elder man pauses for a second, while coughing, “The…, shipment… oh- of… dr-“, the elder man falls over, his sword as well. He collapsed to the ground, due to his injury. Ganki watches, while keeping his distance, while once again not sure what to do next. He was going to die, that was for sure, nothing Ganki could do about that. The empathetic thoughts began to pour in, which Ganki grunted a little, but gave in nevertheless. Dropping the stone in his left hand, he picks up the old man, and makes his way back to camp, via his FTG seal. He knows not what he had done was right, but what he did know, was that he had to leave soon. The blood trailing back to the direction of Sunagakure could be a warning.  

Moments later, Ganki standing over the fire, with the elder man   leaning against the same pillar he once leaned against, he walks over to him. His only bottle of water, which Ganki decided to give to the man for god, knows why, whenever he came too. Ganki was no medic, but he did know how to stop wounds from bleeding out. The wounds were sealed, cauterized with his Chidori once again. The elder man wakes up, slowly, with Ganki at his side. He eyes Ganki up and down as he was introduced with a bottle of water by Ganki himself. What was he thinking? “What are you doing?” Ganki replied, I don’t know…, I don’t know what to do now”, the elder man raised his eyebrow. “Do you know what I am? Never mind that, I followed you to take your life-“ Ganki interrupts, I don’t know if you know, but lost quite a bit of blood, I don’t even know how you woke up, but what your rumbling about now doesn’t matter, because in a few minut-“, the elder man interrupts Ganki too, “Drugs, you cost me… No, the Ya…”, he stopped his sentence, realizing that the boy was right, he could feel the loss of feeling within his feet. His time was coming.

“Where are you going…”. He said with haste. He wonders why the young man didn't kill him, like any warrior should have.

Ganki leaned back a bit, “I don’t know, I don’t even know what to do. Here I am walking aimlessly in the barren waste land, hold up in these ruins, making the last few minutes of an assassin, who planned on killing me, more relaxing. Yeah..”, Ganki finished while nodding his head. “Im going, insane…”, The elder man coughs, “I know a place you can go…”, Ganki stands up straight, walking over to the elder’s sword, looking at its fine details. “Why should I trust you, you tried to kill me.”

“It’s my daughter, I’ve done terrible things in the past, And I wish for my daughter, to know that her father has always watched over her”, Ganki retorts “Bull, and why the hell would you trust me with yoru own daughter? Who I think does not exist, go on, speak up?” The elder takes in a deep breath, and exhales, he lost the feelings of his entire lower half. “I have no choice but to trust you, please, travel to the Iron country. The mountain that stands tall to the east, there will be a village there, I pray that you carry out my wishes. Or, you can roam the lands aimlessly, without purpose. Living a endless nightmare, and dying an endlessly death…”, Ganki stares down the elder man at the corner of his eyes, he was right. Ganki knew not where, or what to do now. Maybe, the village might help him too. He forces himself to ask his name, and the name of the girl… “What’s her name, and your name as well…”, the elder reaches into his left pocket, with his left hand, and pulls out a silver rose. Ganki had never seen such a thing, Ganki also catches the elder’s left hand, missing most of his pinky.

“Usoitsuwari, as I, am…, Masashi”, Ganki reaches for the rose, taking it from his hand. “Give this to her”, the elder said while taking his last breaths. Ganki had a bad feeling about this, but nothing could be worse than roaming the earth alone, without purpose. What he had described was Ganki’s future if he continued on like this. But the situation he was in, it just didn’t add up, why would this old man do this? “I’ll do it”, Ganki said. He gathers his stuff, and packs everything together, while putting out the flames. He then makes his way away from the ruins, but tosses the same kunai he branded his seal with, and tosses it with such speed and strength; it digs into the broken ceiling. Ganki, finally had something to look forward to, no longer dead inside, for now.

The Elder man, as he took his last breath, muttered a single word as he died. Indeed he had lied, but for a good reason. He had found a replacement, to repay his debt to the Yakuza. Ganki was on his way, now unknowingly shanghaied into joining an organization that would test every aspect of Ganki Sakura.

((Exit, 1620/4000 words towards Chidori Mastery.))